1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers in general and in particular to a container for both shipping and merchandising objects such as books.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
There are in existence many types of containers for both shipping and displaying a product. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,139,979 discloses a combined shipping and merchandising package for merchandising in particular paperback books. The books come in a sealed container for shipping and then at the merchandising area the container is separated on three of the four sides by means of score lines to provide two containers that are hinged together on the fourth side where the score line does not extend. This means lifting the box at the center after the score line is broken and causing the two halves of the box to pivot away from each other to form a combined tray having two halves of the box with the books exposed therein. This configuration, of course, does not allow stacking of the boxes for display since the stacking of one box on top of the other would conceal the books. It is a single use box. In other words, it is not used again for shipping books.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,783, a combination shipping container and bookcase for technical manuals is disclosed. The bookcase is open on the side to expose the manuals and may be stacked one on top of another where a single unit is insufficient to store the number of books required. A disposable shroud surrounds the bookcase to protect the structure and retain the manuals in place during shipping. A floor member having four casters attached may be positioned beneath the bottom of one of the lower ones of the containers to provide ease of movement of the bookcases. This container appears to be intended as a single use container.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,872, the shipping/display container has a front panel sealed during shipment but at the place of display can be raised and a lower portion of the container removed along perforation lines to expose the interior of the box or container. This is also a single use container.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,961,137 discloses a celery display case for shipping and displaying celery. It has a close-fitting front door provided of windows of celluloid or other transparent material. The door is provided with a latch and is substantially airtight. The box may be placed on an easel support at an angle so that the celery can be displayed through the transparent windows. It is also a single use container.
While some of these prior art containers have an opening in side walls serving as handles to stack the boxes, none of these containers has handles that easily allow the containers to be stacked for shipping with one side down and then rotated 90 degrees at the place of sale and easily stacked to enable the top of the box (during shipping) to be facing forwardly so that the books or the products can be viewed. Further, while U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,783 illustrates containers that can be stacked for shipping, these containers remain in the same position during removal of the manuals therefrom and are not rotated.
While Russell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,139,979, discloses a merchandising package that can be shipped with books in a first position and then the carton split along three sides to be pivoted upwardly about the remaining side and display the books in a second position, there are no handles for assisting in the handling of these boxes.
It would be advantageous to have a reusable container for shipping a product, such as books, with the top of the containers facing upwardly and then, at the point of commercializing the books, causing the containers to be tilted 90 degrees to enable viewing of the books inside. Inasmuch as the containers must be stacked with the bottom downwardly for shipping and the one side wall downwardly for viewing, it would also be advantageous to have a handle in each side of the containers to allow easy stacking and handling of the boxes for either shipping or display. It would also be desirable to have a way for the books to be moved forwardly to the front edge of the container for alignment of the book spines during viewing since the books may be of different sizes. Also, to minimize the wear on the books caused by moving them in and out of the containers, it would be advantageous to have a smooth surface on which the books rest during viewing so that they can easily moved inwardly and outwardly from the container with minimum wear on the books.